''ICO'' is a 2001 ActionAdventure {{PS2}} game designed and directed by Fumito Ueda, who wanted to create a minimalist game around a [[BoyMeetsGirl "boy meets girl"]] concept. It is the first game in the VideoGame/TeamIcoSeries.

The team employed a [[{{Minimalism}} "subtracting design"]] approach to reduce elements of gameplay that interfered with the game's setting and story, in order to create a [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration high level of immersion]]. This means that the gameplay is realistic, with actions such as climbing, hitting things and making difficult jumps being limited to what a child would actually be capable of.

The [[CharacterTitle titular Ico]] is a [[KidHero young boy]] born with horns on his head, which his village considers a bad omen. Warriors [[BurnTheWitch lock Ico away]] in a [[BuriedAlive sealed coffin]] within an [[HauntedCastle abandoned castle]]. He escapes by chance, and while exploring his prison, Ico encounters [[FallenPrincess Yorda]], a mysterious young [[EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses princess]] who speaks a strange language.

The goal of the game is to [[EscortMission escape the castle with Yorda]]. While she is physically weak, [[MysteriousWaif locked doors in the castle open when she gets close enough]], making her a living skeleton key. Her presence is also necessary to save the game, and some pressure plate puzzles require Yorda to open doors for Ico. This is where her utility ends, however: Yorda is unable to climb chains, lift, or fight anything, leaving the work involving dexterity or [[NerfArm pointed sticks]] to Ico, [[TheDulcineaEffect who tries his best to keep her alive]]. Escaping the castle is complicated by the shadow creatures sent by the [[GodSaveUsFromTheQueen evil Queen]], Yorda's mother. These creatures attempt to drag Yorda into their shadowy [[RespawningEnemies spawn points]] if [[NeverSplitTheParty Ico leaves her for any length of time]], or if she just happens to enter basically any area of the castle, presumably because [[DoomMagnet she was born unlucky]]. Ico can prevent this by beating the shadows with a [[NerfArm stick]] or sword, and can also [[TakeMyHand pull Yorda free]] if she is drawn into a vortex. While the shadow creatures cannot harm Ico, they can impede him in his attempt to keep Yorda from being taken away. The game practically ''revolves'' around the fact that she's a burden -- on purpose, as the emotional bond that the gamer develops with Yorda grows and evolves over time because of this.

''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheColossus'' is both {{prequel}} and {{spiritual successor}} to ''ICO'', sharing a similar aesthetic approach, although the two games are standalone.

A novelization of the game, ''Ico: Castle in the Mist'' by Miyuki Miyabe, was released in Japan in 2004, with an English translation by Creator/AlexanderOSmith released in 2011. The original creator does not recognize it as canonical, but then again, [[DeathOfTheAuthor he doesn't recognise]] ''his own'' interpretation as canonical, either - he encourages each player to come up with their own stories about what exactly is going on and how the game does or doesn't relate to ''Shadow of the Colossus''.

Note that the game's title is always written in capital letters, but the character's name is not. Also, it is spelt "IKO" in katakana, and thus pronounced "ee-ko", not "ai-ko". (Although many Anglophone people still say it like that anyway.)

-----!!This game provides examples of:

* AmericanKirbyIsHardcore: The European and Japanese cover was inspired by the surrealist art of Giorgio de Chirico, with Ueda painting his own take for the game, and expressed the loneliness of the setting and the importance of the companionship. The North American cover, on the other hand, features generic shots of a [[RaceLift Race Lifted]] Ico, Yorda, and a windmill, and lacks any emotional depth (though it does show Ico looking about as bad-ass as one can with a wooden sword). The NA cover was so famous for being bad that its badness gained an acknowledgment in some interviews with staff in the [=PS3=] re-release. The only reason this cover was used in North America was due to its fixed release deadline; Ueda wasn't able to provide the more abstract cover in time for release.* ArtificialBrilliance: Unusual for a DistressedDamsel or an EscortMission game, Yorda hints at puzzle advancement by pointing to the place or object of interest and saying Ico's name (though this was left out of the original NTSC version). It varies depending on the location-level: On the windmill, she walks right to the place that you can climb and points at it, while in the cemetery she points at the cube on high grounds that you need so both Yorda and Ico can pass the gate. Furthermore, Yorda sometimes walks around and looks for a way before she points to the object/area of interest, giving the impression that she's helping you look for a way out. In some occasions (like the first level that introduced the stick-lighting mechanic) if you call to her while she's away, Yorda will face (even run) at the direction of where you need to go instead of trying to get to you. Just as how Yorda trusts Ico to navigate her around the castle, you can trust Yorda to find what you need to advance the navigation. It's the biggest reason as to why their bond is as endearing as the fans remember it to be.* ArtificialStupidity:** Though not as bad as many other examples of lackluster AI, Yorda needs to be led by the hand very often in the original NTSC release, otherwise she will tend to just stand still -- even if shadow monsters are actively approaching.** Another case happens in other versions: sometimes, when going down a long ladder, just before touching the ground, she will stop and go ''back up'', for no reason. Especially annoying because you have to wait for her to arrive at the top and to come down again; and she's ''painfully slow'' when climbing ladders.* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: Both Ico and Yorda speak rather elegantly creator-designed gibberish; Ico's sounds vaguely Korean-based, and is subtitled in the player's language. Yorda's language sounds just a bit like French (and is subtitled in nonsense glyphs that call to mind Central American indigenous art) but is in fact mostly "translated" from Japanese by writing the words in English letters, then spelt backwards, then tweaked. * AwardBaitSong: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_nXMXOprAg You Were There]].* {{Backtracking}}: A variant in the level "Symmetry (pt. 2)". It's technically a new area, but is in fact just the previous level "Symmetry (pt. 1)" [[CutAndPasteEnvironments flipped symmetrically]], and requires the player to complete essentially the exact same series of puzzles from that level all over again.* BenevolentArchitecture / MalevolentArchitecture: The [[PrinceOfPersia Sands of Time trilogy]] took inspiration from the BenevolentArchitecture aspect, and it shows. But on the other hand, one can wonder why such a ridiculously complex and difficult to access mechanism is needed to open a door (a huge one, but still)…* {{BFS}}: The Queen's sword is huge.* BiggerStick: Ico doesn't power up, he just finds better things to smack monsters with.* BossArenaIdiocy: [[spoiler:The Queen is probably regretting those lovely decorative pillars she put up in her throne room.]]* BossBattle: A rare case where there is only one boss in the entire game.* BoyMeetsGirl: Ico meets Yorda shortly after his initial escape.%%* BrokenAngel* BrokenBridge: The bridge breaks while Ico and Yorda are trying to make use of it (rather than being broken before they get there), but the result ends up being the same.* CameraScrew: Awkward camera positioning sometimes lends a frisson of FakeDifficulty to some of the platforming sequences.%%* CaveBehindTheFalls* CheckPointStarvation: There are no Save Points in the last segment of the game, which contains some difficult jumping puzzles and few checkpoints. Just hope it's not dinner time when you arrive at the final battle.* CherubicChoir: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFX2bDATGU4&hd=1 "You Were There"]], the closing song of ICO, sung by the then [[http://www.libera.org.uk Libera]] boy chorister Steven theGeraghty.* ChunkySalsaRule: Getting punched around by shadows or falling off medium-height ledges only stuns the player. Falls higher than three stories and certain magical effects are an instant Game Over. %%* CinematicPlatformGame%%* ConLang* ControllableHelplessness: A variation, considering that [[spoiler:until a second playthrough when another player can control her]], Yorda is effectively controlled by the player as Ico leading her by the hand, but when [[spoiler:the two have reactivated the main gate and Yorda has used a HUGE amount of her power opening it, the player will notice that her hair has lost its color and is completely white. When you take her hand and resume leading her around, every few meters she'll collapse with exhaustion. There's nothing you can do to help her but keep trying to lead her forward until the cutscene triggers -- which makes it even worse.]]* CutAndPasteEnvironments: "Symmetry (pt. 1)" and "Symmetry (pt. 2)" are the exact same level, just flipped symmetrically.* CuteGhostGirl: Yorda is about as close to a ghost as you can get without actually being one.* DamselInDistress: Yorda is one of the purest examples of this trope in the medium: utterly defenceless and requiring Ico to protect her at every turn. [[spoiler: Then rescue her from her the Queen.]]* TheDeterminator: Ico will do absolutely anything to escape from the castle ''with'' Yorda in tow, including jumping over a gigantic chasm as the front bridge quickly retracts. * DifficultyByRegion: The North American version is considerably easier than other versions. A few puzzles have the tricky bits cut out, and enemies are slower and less aggressive.* DoesNotLikeShoes: Yorda is never seen having shoes on.* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: The bonus ''lightsaber'' weapon (previously only available in the Japanese/PAL release) only works by holding Yorda's hand, causing the [[AccidentalInnuendo ''blade to grow'']]. * EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: After going through this dungeon castle, twice, defeating the Queen and then escaping before the place collapses, Ico and Yorda get to relax on a beach and eat watermelon.]]* EscortMission: The entire game is one big escort mission. The developers put in a massive amount of effort to avoid the more annoying elements of the trope and play to its strengths. Yorda doesn't do anything infuriatingly stupid, she unlocks doors (with the added bonus blowing up any nearby monsters real good in the process), and her relationship with Ico is so endearing that you WANT to protect her (see the VideoGameCaringPotential examples below). There are also some frustrating aspects: she's defenseless, can't access the same areas Ico can and moves slowly, the result being that a not-insignificant part of the game is running back to areas already covered to make her come with you, or patiently waiting at the top of a ladder for her to ascend.* EvenTheSubtitlerIsStumped: Both Ico and Yorda speak in some sort of ConLang, but only Ico's dialogue has proper subtitles. Yorda's speech is rendered into what looks like hieroglyphs to emphasize that whatever language she's speaking, it's completely alien to Ico. (In non-NTSC versions of the game, Yorda's speech is rendered in English subtitles in NewGamePlus.)* FakeLongevity: One of the main criticisms of the game was its [[ItsShortSoItSucks brief running time]], and it ''still'' pulls this trope:** The aptly titled chapters "Symmetry (pt. 1)" and "Symmetry (pt. 2)" require the player to solve essentially the exact same lengthy, time-consuming series of puzzles twice, except with [[CutAndPasteEnvironments the level design flipped symmetrically]]. Naturally, the second time around is pure padding.** The player will spend a long time simply waiting for Yorda to catch up to Ico. In particularly, the amount of time she spends climbing ladders beggars belief. For this reason, the final chapter of the game in which the two are separated feels fast-paced by comparison. %%* FallenPrincess* FantasyCounterpartCulture: Ico was designed to look and sound Korean, which is strange, considering most of the setting appears [[MedievalEuropeanFantasy nonspecifically European]]. This may be meant to emphasize the fact he's an [[NoKoreansInJapan outcast]].%%* FingerTwitchingRevival* FirstBlood: [[spoiler: Ico loses one of his horns at the start of his final battle with the Queen, resulting in a gout of red blood spurting from his head. He loses the other at the conclusion of the fight.]]%%* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen* GrandTheftMe: [[spoiler:The reason the Queen keeps Yorda around is to get her new body and presumably continue to BodySurf.]]* HauntedCastle: A castle infested with shadow monsters.* HeartIsAnAwesomePower: Opening the locked doors also destroys all the remaining shadows in an area.* HitPoints: Averted; Ico can't be killed by the shadow monsters' attacks, all they can do is delay him while another one attempts to take Yorda back through a shadow portal.* HoldingHands: Ico leads Yorda by the hand through the castle. * HornedHumanoid: Ico has two horns and they are a bad omen. * {{HUD}}: [[AvertedTrope Averted]]; there is no inventory or health meter or anything, so no heads-up display.* HumanSacrifice: Ico is intended to be one before he escapes, and he guesses Yorda was as well when they meet.* ImpliedLoveInterest: A lot of people see Ico and Yorda's relationship ending up like this LadyAndKnight style. * InfinityPlusOneSword: Lightsaber [[BadExportForYou (but not in the North America release!)]]* ItsUpToYou: ** Downplayed. Using Yorda as a stalking horse is one of the most effective tactics in the game. When Yorda opens an idol gate, all shadows present get zapped.** In the PAL release, Yorda is a playable character in a second playthrough.* JumpPhysics: ** Averted, Ico can't jump particularly high, he is just very scrappy.** Some fun can be had with the PAL version regarding this trope. There's a puzzle where Ico needs to jump up to a very high ledge and, well, the jump is pretty sweet.%%* KidHero* LadyAndKnight: Yorda as the Bright Lady princess with Ico as her White Knight who escorts her out of the castle.* LanguageBarrier: Ico and Yorda speak different languages, and cannot understand each other. The Queen can speak both languages, but doesn't ever act as a translator. To keep the player in the dark as well, Ico's language is subtitled, but Yorda's is written in strange hieroglyphs (except for NewGamePlus, see below).* LivingShadow: These seek to capture Yorda. * {{Minimalism}}: Two characters in one dungeon; that's it.* MinimalistCast: Ico, Yorda and the Queen are the only main characters.* MultiMookMelee: You will start fighting these hordes of shadows, trying to keep them away from Yorda… before realizing they don't even try to attack you. Add to this a magnificent SoundtrackDissonance, and [[PlayerPunch this scene really makes you feel uneasy]].* MysteriousWaif: Yorda speaks a strange language, can open doors with a weird power and is sought after by the shadows. * NeverSplitTheParty: Wander away from Yorda at your peril.* NewGamePlus: Except for the original NTSC (US) version, after completing the game you can enable translated subtitles for Yorda's speech, and have a second player control Yorda directly.* NonstandardGameOver: There are roughly two ways to get a game over here -- fall from a great height (in one instance, you fall for quite some time before the Game Over appears), or if the shadow monsters successfully capture Yorda.* NowLetMeCarryYou: [[spoiler: After spending the game being led by the hand by Ico, Yorda picks him up and carries him after he's injured fighting the queen.]]* OneHitKill: That lightning sword you saw soldiers use in the opening cinematics? It dispatches shadow monsters instantly.%%* PantyShot: In [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64UreO2z5xI this video]].%%* PlayableEpilogue* ThePowerOfBlood: In the climax, [[spoiler:Ico's horns are snapped off, and he bleeds pretty well from the wounds]]. It comes like a punch to the gut after a game full of nothing but intangible shadow people.* RecurringRiff: The few notes when Yorda steps out of her cage can be heard in several other tracks, including the ending song (if you listen closely) and Castle In The Mist.* SceneryPorn: A good deal of it is architecture porn, to be more precise.* SchizoTech: The castle incorporates a number of divergent technologies in its construction. On its own, the place seems to be your standard medieval-esque castle, but several areas incorporate metal scaffolds, pipes, mine carts, and even elevators into their decor.* SequenceBreaking: A jumping glitch in the PS2 PAL version can be used to skip roughly 50% of the game. See SpeedRun below.* ShoutOut: The original cover is painted in the style of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chirico Giorgio de Chirico]], particularly resembling [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Nostalgia_of_the_Infinite "The Nostalgia of the Infinite"]].* SleepCute: It's how you save. ''Awwwwww.''* SpeedRun: The PS3 UpdatedRerelease has a trophy for finishing the game in less than 4 hours. And one to finish it in less than ''[[UpToEleven two hours]]''* SwordOfPlotAdvancement: Ico eventually finds a sword that opens the doors that only Yorda can previously open. [[spoiler: It fits the "advancement" angle because Yorda is kidnapped at this point.]]* TakeMyHand: Ico can pull Yorda out of the shadow spawn points. * TakenForGranite: If Ico fails to save Yorda from a shadow vortex in time, a wave of the Queen's magic flashes out from it, [[GameOver petrifying Ico]]. [[spoiler:Later, the Queen petrifies Yorda after recapturing her at the bridge.]]* TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything: When you are running, the controller will begin to vibrate a little to indicate a racing heartbeat.* TinyGuyHugeGirl: Ico is much smaller than Yorda.* UpdatedRerelease: Released as ''The Ico & VideoGame/ShadowOfTheColossus Collection'', features widescreen HD graphics and a few other goodies. More importantly for North American players, the rerelease has all of the features from the PAL version, finally averting BadExportForYou.* UseYourHead: If Ico's unarmed, he'll headbutt the shadow monsters.* VideoGameCaringPotential: You WILL worry about what is happening to Yorda every time she is out of sight.** Watching Yorda make those leaps of faith, trusting to Ico to catch and raise her up after jumps she can't possibly reach on her own; that kind of childlike trust is very endearing.** The first time Yorda goes off on her own, to show Ico the order in which to light the torches in the courtyard, it's a wonderful humanizing moment. It's the first time that she comes across less like luggage and more like a partner. Her autonomous acts here and elsewhere really make the player care about her beyond her role as gameplay mechanic.* WhatNowEnding** Fumito Ueda stated in an interview "''In Japan there's this saying, 'when it ends well everything's well'. My theory was to already in the beginning of the game make the player understand how important the ending would be. Then the player would strive to reach it, it would keep up motivation the game through. Because I believe that the only purpose that games have is to enrich the hard life we live. And that's why ICO got a happy ending.''"** There's an alternate ending that's [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOXF5yDmhKE&feature=related ever-so-slightly less ambiguous.]] Fans like considering ''that'' as the real ending.* WhereItAllBegan: The end of the game makes you go back to the place where Ico freed himself and met Yorda.%%* WomanInWhite: Yorda

!!!The novelization provides examples of the following:

* AdaptationExpansion: Necessary, considering the minimalist nature of the game itself. A good quarter of the novel consists of Ico's life before coming to the Castle as a Sacrifice, and Yorda's time before her imprisonment takes up about half of it. Some things it expands on include: why Ico doesn't have a health bar (Yorda has healing powers which are maintained by physical contact), the world beyond the Castle, why the Queen is a LoadBearingBoss, the ancestral heritage of the Sacrifices (which was later possibly retconned by ''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheColossus''), shows the amount of time that Yorda's been imprisoned, what happened to Yorda and Ico before they met, and the reason the Queen got her powers to begin with. %%* AncestralWeapon: The Queen's sword* CatchPhrase: Sir Ozuma ''always'' responds with either "it is as you say" or "as you say" when confirming something is true.* GeniusLoci: The eponymous Castle in the Mist. The Queen's spirit is explicitly tied to the Castle, explaining her status as a LoadBearingBoss.* GodOfEvil: The Dark God, one of many gods in the [[AdaptationExpansion expanded backstory]]. The Queen is blessed by it, being born on the day of a solar eclipse.* HeroicLineage: [[spoiler:Ico, as well as all the other Sacrifices. Their horns mark them as descendants of a knight who helped Yorda before her imprisonment in the castle.]]* HoistByHisOwnPetard: The shadows protect Ico in the final battle with the Queen, allowing him to retrieve his sword when it's blasted away from him.%%* SealedEvilInACan: The Queen.* TimeStandsStill: For the Castle in the Mist. Yorda has been imprisoned for ten to twenty lifetimes, long enough for generations of Sacrifices.